Month: July 2014

To some, US secretary of state John Kerry may have appeared to be a genuine peacemaker as he floated around ideas during a Cairo visit on July 25 about a ceasefire between Israel and resisting Palestinian fighters in Gaza. But behind his measured diplomatic language, there is a truth not even America’s top diplomat can easily hide.

Our movement isn’t strong enough yet to end US enabling of the carnage in Gaza—but the shift in public discourse is a crucial first step.

With the collapse of an Egyptian cease-fire proposal, the horror of Israel’s latest Gaza assault continues. At least 185 have been killed, almost 80 percent of them civilians. Almost half are women and children. At least seventy homes were specifically targeted and destroyed. Five healthcare facilities, including a hospital, have been damaged in air strikes. There was a direct attack on a center for profoundly disabled people. It was one of Israel’s much-bragged-about “carefully targeted” bombings, including the now-iconic “knock on the roof” message from the Israeli bombers—the small bomb that signals much worse to come. It wasn’t an accident. Three people, two patients and a caregiver, were killed there. It goes on.read more

In ongoing raids, the Israeli air force have also destroyed water wells and lengths of pipeline, in the process, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), leaving "hundreds of thousands" of Gazans without adequate hydration.

Now that the triumvirate of public intellectuals from Burlington has passed on – social ecology theorist Murray Bookchin, peace activist Will Miller and world citizen Garry Davis – who will replace them? It’s a hard act to follow. Nevertheless, one place to look is amongst the Vermonters who got themselves to the Left Forum this year.

The use of rockets from Gaza toward Israel and the more deadly use of rockets and bombs by Israeli forces toward Gaza has raised in a dramatic way the possibility of banning rocket use in the Middle East.